Wiper blade

ABSTRACT

A wiper blade with a wiper strip, in the lateral longitudinal grooves of which spring rails are inserted as springy supporting elements. The ends of the spring rails are connected with one another by a bridge in that side parts of the bridge are supported at the upper side of the spring rail and engage recesses of the spring rails, whereas a middle part of the bridge bridges a back strip of the wiper strip, which forms the upper boundary of the longitudinal grooves. It is proposed that the spring rails, at their front faces, have short slots, which extend in the longitudinal direction of the spring rails and which are engaged by the I-shaped angle pieces of the bridge. Lower legs of the angle pieces are directed towards the middle of the spring rails, gripping these from below.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is continuation of pending U.S. application Ser. No.13/748,339, filed Jan. 23, 2013, which is a divisional of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/867,280, filed Aug. 12, 2010, which is a U.S.371 National Phase filing of PCT/EP2009/051888, filed Feb. 18, 2009,which claims priority to German Application No. 10 2008 000 708.0, filedMar. 17, 2008. The entire contents of all of the foregoing are herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a wiper blade.

DE 10 2005 052 258 A1 discloses a wiper blade of the type in question,in which the ends of two spring rails embedded in longitudinal groovesof a wiper strip are connected to each other by a bridge. The bridge hasside parts which run parallel to the spring rails and are supportedthereon while a central part of the bridge spans a back strip of thewiper strip. Holes are provided in the spring rails, in the region ofthe ends thereof, through which parts of the side parts reach and, onthat side of the spring rails which faces away from the central part,are plastically deformed in such a manner that the bridge is connectedfixedly to the spring rails. In this manner, the spring rails are at aconstant distance to each other over the length thereof duringoperation, and therefore the head strip of the wiper strip is not wedgedbetween the spring rails but rather can easily be matched to thecurvature of a vehicle window. A tab is integrally formed on that endsurface of the central part of the bridge which faces the center of thewiper blade and, at the end of said tab, at least one claw is angledtoward the back strip and, in the fitted state, is pressed into thelatter. As a result, the wiper strip is fixed in the longitudinaldirection relative to the spring rails.

Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,551 discloses a wiper blade with ajoining element for the articulated connection of the wiper blade to awiper arm. The joining element is connected by means of rivets to asupporting element approximately in the center of said supportingelement, which is designed as a spring rail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, the end sides of the spring rails have shortslots which run in the longitudinal direction of the spring rails and inwhich l-shaped angle pieces of the bridge engage, while the lower limbsof the angle pieces are directed toward the center of the spring railsand grip the latter from below. In an advantageous manner, a tab can beintegrally formed on the central part of the bridge and face the end ofthe spring rails, and said tab extends between the side parts of thebridge.

The bridge can be produced as a sheet-metal bent part with littleconsumption of material and can be fitted in a simple manner, inparticular without welding and riveting processes. In this case, theside parts are angled by approximately 90 degrees with respect to thecentral part of the bridge such that said side parts are supported bythe sheet-metal thickness on the spring rails, and the slot widthcorresponds to the sheet-metal thickness. As a result of the claws ofthe tab facing the end of the spring rails, a rectilinear end surface isproduced on the opposite side, to which an end cap can be simplylatched. This is particularly advantageous if the bridge is supported inthe longitudinal direction not only on the back strip of the wiper stripvia the claws and the tab on the back strip 22 but also, according to arefinement of the invention, is supported on the spring rails via hooksat the free ends of the lower limbs, the hooks engaging in correspondingbores in the spring rails in the fitted state. In this case, it may beexpedient for the side parts to have cutouts on the sides which face thehooks, into which the hooks enter in the fitted state. This results in ahighly stable form-fitting connection.

According to a refinement of the invention, the side parts of the bridgerun with the wide sides thereof parallel to the spring rails. l-shapedangle pieces are integrally formed at the free ends of said side parts,the lower limbs of said angle pieces gripping the ends of the springrails from below from the end sides, and, in the fitted state, bumps onthose sides of the lower limbs and/or of the side parts which face thespring rails engaging in bores in the spring rails. Depending on theapplication, it may be sufficient to provide bumps only on the lowerlimbs or on the side parts. However, if the form-fitting connection issubjected to heavy loading, it is expedient to arrange bumps on bothparts. It is also possible here for the end cap to latch on that endside of the bridge which faces the center. In order, however, to designthe fixing of the bridge such that it is largely independent of thefixing of the end cap, it may be advantageous for the outer longitudinalsides of the spring rails to have cutouts to which the end cap latchesin the fitted state.

According to a further refinement of the invention, claws which engagearound the outer longitudinal sides of the spring rails are integrallyformed on the longitudinal sides of the side parts, on the wide sidesthereof which run parallel to the spring rails. In the region of theclaws, bumps which engage in bores in the spring rails are provided onthose sides of the side parts and/or of the claws which face the springrails. What has been stated with regard to the previous exemplaryembodiment is essentially also applicable here. The side parts togetherwith the claws thereof can be matched in length to the requirements ofthe application. In general, they can be kept shorter than in theprevious exemplary embodiment.

In order to keep the distance between the spring rails as constant aspossible over the entire length of the wiper blade during operation, itis advantageous for a joining element for the articulated connection ofthe wiper blade to a wiper arm to have lateral claws which, in thefitted state, grip by means of the lower limbs thereof the spring railsfrom below from the outer longitudinal sides thereof. In the fittedstate, bumps on those sides of the lower limbs and/or of the side partsof the joining element which face the spring rails engage in depressionsor cutouts in the spring rails. As a result, the joining element isfixed relative to the spring rails in the longitudinal direction, andthe spring rails are kept at a distance by the joining element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further advantages emerge from the description below of the drawing. Thedrawings illustrates exemplary embodiments of the invention. Thedrawings, the description and the claims contain numerous features incombination. A person skilled in the art will expediently also considerthe features individually and put them together to form meaningfulfurther combinations.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective partial view of a wiper strip with springrails and a bridge during installation,

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged perspective view of a bridge according to FIG.1,

FIG. 3 shows a perspective partial view of a wiper blade with a spoilerand an end cap during installation,

FIG. 4 shows a variant of FIG. 1,

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged perspective view of a bridge according to FIG.4,

FIG. 6 shows a variant of FIG. 5,

FIG. 7 shows a perspective partial view of a wiper blade with a spoilerand an end cap during installation,

FIG. 8 shows a variant of FIG. 1,

FIG. 8A shows a side view of a portion of the variant according to FIG.8,

FIG. 9 shows an enlarged view of a bridge according to FIG. 8 in theinstallation direction,

FIG. 10 shows a view of a joining element in the installation directionaccording to FIG. 11,

FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of a joining element duringinstallation in the longitudinal direction of the spring rails, and

FIG. 12 shows a perspective view of a joining element duringinstallation transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction ofthe spring rails.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An essential component of a wiper blade 10 is the wiper strip 12 thereofwhich slides by means of a wiper lip 14 over a vehicle window (notillustrated) during a wiping movement. The wiper lip 14 is connected viaa tilting web 16 to a head strip 18. The latter has longitudinal grooves20 on both sides, which are upwardly bounded by a back strip 22 of thehead strip 18. Spring rails 24 are inserted as a resiliently elasticsupporting element into the longitudinal grooves 20 and protrude for adistance from the longitudinal grooves. A spoiler 48 and end caps 50 areguided on said part of the spring rails 24.

In the exemplary embodiment according to FIGS. 1 to 5, the spring rails24 are connected to each other by a bridge 32. The latter is producedfrom a sheet-metal plate by punching and bending, two side parts 36being angled approximately at right angles from a central part 34. A tab42 is punched out between the side parts 36. The free end of said tab,on which two claws 44 are integrally formed, faces the end of the wiperblade 10. At the same end, the side parts 36 have angle pieces 38 whichcross the spring rails 24 and fit into short slots 28 on the end sidesof the spring rails 24. During installation, the bridge 32 is pushed inthe installation direction 42 in the longitudinal direction of the wiperstrip 12 onto the spring rails 24, the angle pieces 38 sliding into theslots 28. In the process, lower limbs 40 of the angle pieces 38 grip thespring rails 24 from below on the side facing the wiper lip 14. Duringinstallation, the tab 42 together with the claws 44 thereof is initiallystill bent upward. At the end of the installation, said tab is pressedagainst the back strip 22, the claws 44 penetrating the back strip 22.The spring rails 24 are therefore fixed relative to the wiper strip 12.

The bridge 32 keeps the spring rails 24 at a predetermined distance suchthat the spring rails 24 can move in the longitudinal grooves 20 withlittle friction in order to be able to be better matched to thecurvatures of a vehicle window. When the spring rails 24 are fittedtogether with the bridge 32, the spoiler 48 is placed onto the springrails 24 and the end cap 50 is finally pushed onto the spring rails 24in the installation direction 46. The end cap 50 latches to a latchinghook (not visible), either on an end surface 72 of the bridges 32, 54,62, 76, which end surface faces the center of the wiper blade 10, or oncutouts 26 on the outer longitudinal edges of the spring rails 24. Theouter end wall of the end cap 50 has a cutout 52 for the head strip 18of the wiper strip 12 which, in the fitted state, ends flush with theouter contour of the end cap 50.

The bridge 54 as per the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 5differs from the bridge 32 according to FIG. 2 by the angle pieces 56 onthe side parts 36. The angle pieces 56 have lower limbs 58, the freeends of which have hooks 60 which are angled toward the side parts 36.During installation, the lower limbs 58 are bent up a little such thatthe bridge 32 can slide onto the spring rail 24 and the angle pieces 56can slide into the slots 28. If the bridge 32 has reached the finalposition thereof, the lower limbs 58 are pressed against the side parts36, the hooks 60 engaging in bores 30 in the spring rails 24. In thiscase, it is expedient for the hooks 60 to enter into cutouts 61 on theopposite side of the side parts 36, thus resulting in a secure, stableform-fitting connection.

The bridge 62 as per the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 6differs from the bridge 54 according to FIG. 5 in that the central part64 thereof runs with an offset in relation to the side parts 66 suchthat the flat sides of the side parts 66 run parallel to the springrails 24. It is therefore not possible for the angle pieces 68, whichare integrally formed on the ends, to engage in the slots 28 of thespring rails. On the contrary, said angle pieces enclose the springrails 24 from the end sides, the lower limbs 70 of the angle pieces 68gripping the spring rails 24 from below and, in the fitted state,engaging with bumps 84 in the bores 30 of the spring rails 24. In thiscase, it is possible for the bumps 84 to be located on the lower limbs70 and/or on the side parts 66.

In the exemplary embodiment according to FIGS. 8 and 9, the bridge 76has a central part 78, with respect to which the side parts 80 run withan offset and are supported on the upper sides of the spring rails 24.The side parts 80 are adjoined by claws 82 which are bent up duringinstallation such that they can be pushed in the installation direction46 over the spring rails 24. Bumps 84 which fit into the bores 30 in thespring rails 24 are located on those sides of the side parts 80 whichface the spring rails 24. Said bumps are inserted in the installationdirection 74 transverse to the spring rails 24 into the bores 30,whereupon the claws 82 are pressed against the lower sides of the springrails 24 such that the bridge 76 is fixed in the longitudinal directionin relation to the spring rails 24 and at the same time keeps the latterat a distance. As in the preceding exemplary embodiment according toFIG. 6, the bumps 84 may be arranged on the side parts 80 and/or theclaws 82.

FIGS. 10 to 12 show a joining element 86, the longitudinal web 88 ofwhich bears a bearing spindle 90. The longitudinal webs 88 are adjoinedvia a central part 94 having side parts 92 by claws 96, the lower limbsof which 98 enclose the spring rails 24 from below in the fitted state.During installation, the lower limbs 98 can enclose an acute angle or anobtuse angle with the side parts 92. In the case of an acute angle, thejoining element 86 is pushed in the installation direction 46 in thelongitudinal direction of the spring rails 24 onto the latter as far asdepressions or cutouts 102 approximately in the central region of thespring rails 24. Bumps 100 which are located on the inner sides of theside parts 92 and/or of the limbs 98 engage in said depressions orcutouts.

If the lower limbs 98 form an angle of equal to or greater than 90degrees with the side parts 92, the joining element 86 can be fitted inan installation direction 74 transverse to the longitudinal direction ofthe spring rails 24, in which case the lower limbs 98 are bent at theend of installation around the outer longitudinal sides of the springrails 24 (FIG. 12).

What is claimed is:
 1. A wiper blade (10) with a wiper strip (12), intolateral longitudinal grooves (20) of which two spring rails (24) areinserted as a resiliently elastic supporting element, wherein ends ofthe spring rails (24) are connected to each other by a bridge (32, 54,62, 76), the bridge including a substantially flat and external centralpart (34, 64, 78) that spans a back strip (22) of the wiper strip (12)and includes side parts (36, 66, 80) offset from the central part (34,64, 78) and being supported on upper sides of the spring rails (24), theback strip (22) upwardly bounding the longitudinal grooves (20),characterized in that the side parts (80) of the bridge (62) extendparallel to the spring rails (24) and, on longitudinal sides thereof,have claws (82) which engage around outer longitudinal sides of thespring rails (24), and, in a region of the claws (82), bumps (84) whichengage in bores (30) in the spring rails (24) are provided on thosesides of the side parts (80) and/or of the claws (82) which face thespring rails (24), and characterized in that outer longitudinal sides ofthe spring rails (24) have, on that side of the bridge (32, 54, 62, 76)which is located toward the center of the wiper blade (10), cutouts (26)to which end caps (50) latch in a fitted state.
 2. The wiper blade (10)as claimed in claim 1, with a joining element (86) for the articulatedconnection of the wiper blade (10) to a wiper arm, characterized in thatthe joining element (86) has lateral claws (96) which, in a fittedstate, grip by means of lower limbs (98) thereof, the spring rails (24)from below from outer longitudinal sides thereof, and bumps (100) onthose sides of the lower limbs (98) and/or of the side parts (92) of thejoining element (86) which face the spring rails (24) engage indepressions or cutouts (102).
 3. The wiper blade (10) as claimed inclaim 2, characterized in that the central part (34, 64, 78) of thebridge (32, 54, 62, 76) has a tab (42) which, at a free end thereof, hasat least one claw (44) which, in a fitted state, penetrates the backstrip (22), the tab (42) facing ends of the spring rails (24) andextending between the side parts (36) of the bridge (32, 54).
 4. Thewiper blade (10) as claimed in claim 1, with a joining element (86) forthe articulated connection of the wiper blade (10) to a wiper arm,characterized in that the joining element (86) has lateral claws (96)which, in a fitted state, grip by means of lower limbs (98) thereof, thespring rails (24) from below from outer longitudinal sides thereof, andbumps (100) on those sides of the lower limbs (98) and/or of the sideparts (92) of the joining element (86) which face the spring rails (24)engage in depressions or cutouts (102).
 5. The wiper blade (10) asclaimed in claim 1, characterized in that the central part (34, 64, 78)of the bridge (32, 54, 62, 76) has a tab (42) which, at a free endthereof, has at least one claw (44) which, in a fitted state, penetratesthe back strip (22), the tab (42) facing ends of the spring rails (24)and extending between the side parts (36) of the bridge (32, 54).
 6. Thewiper blade (10) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the backstrip (22) is raised relative to the spring rails (24).
 7. The wiperblade (10) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the central part(34, 64, 78) is raised relative to the side parts (36, 66, 80) inproportion to an amount that the back strip (22) is raised relative tothe spring rails (24).
 8. A wiper blade (10) with a wiper strip (12),into lateral longitudinal grooves (20) of which two spring rails (24)are inserted as a resiliently elastic supporting element, wherein endsof the spring rails (24) are connected to each other by a bridge (32,54, 62, 76) by side parts (36, 66, 80) of the bridge (32, 54, 62, 76)being supported on upper sides of the spring rails (24) and engaging incutouts in the spring rails (24) while a central part (34, 64, 78) ofthe bridge (32, 54, 62, 76) spans a back strip (22) of the wiper strip(12), the back strip upwardly bounding the longitudinal grooves (20),characterized in that the side parts (80) of the bridge (62) run withthe wide sides thereof parallel to the spring rails (24) and, onlongitudinal sides thereof, have claws (82) which engage around outerlongitudinal sides of the spring rails (24), and, in a region of theclaws (82), bumps (84) which engage in bores (30) in the spring rails(24) are provided on those sides of the side parts (80) and/or of theclaws (82) which face the spring rails (24), and characterized in thatouter longitudinal sides of the spring rails (24) have, on that side ofthe bridge (32, 54, 62, 76) which is located toward the center of thewiper blade (10), cutouts (26) to which end caps (50) latch in a fittedstate.
 9. The wiper blade (10) as claimed in claim 8, with a joiningelement (86) for the articulated connection of the wiper blade (10) to awiper arm, characterized in that the joining element (86) has lateralclaws (96) which, in a fitted state, grip by means of lower limbs (98)thereof, the spring rails (24) from below from outer longitudinal sidesthereof, and bumps (100) on those sides of the lower limbs (98) and/orof the side parts (92) of the joining element (86) which face the springrails (24) engage in depressions or cutouts (102).
 10. The wiper blade(10) as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the central part (34,64, 78) of the bridge (32, 54, 62, 76) has a tab (42) which, at a freeend thereof, has at least one claw (44) which, in a fitted state,penetrates the back strip (22), the tab (42) facing ends of the springrails (24) and extending between the side parts (36) of the bridge (32,54).